Uh-huh, "everybody" calls it an assault gun so that must be the correct terminology.
You're still being dense. No one called it an "assault gun". "Assault rifle" may not be the greatest term, but does have an established definition that's good enough for military, armorers, Title III collectors, weapons designers, and historians. The way it gets misused sometimes is completely goddamned irrelevant!
Let's see how the Marines use "assault rifle". Go here:
Fucking address taken from the page doesn't work. At any rate, you can search "nomenclature m16a2" and scroll down for the Marines' pdf.
The Marines call the M16A2 a "Service Rifle". No mention whatsoever of a fucking "assault rifle/gun" whatever. That is official military nomenclature. Your term "assault rifle" is a fucking nickname. Get your head out.
I concede that "service rifle" is a better, updated classification. Still "assault rifle" is not a nickname; it's applied to the entire category.
You want me to find it in writing? It's difficult to find the definition freely available on the internet, but can be found in the Army's small arms and ammunition identification guide: FCTC - CW - 07 - 03 - 70. Page 67, Section III, Part A, paragraph 68a:
"Assault rifles are short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges."
The paragraph concludes by adding:
"Assault rifles have mild recoil characteristics and, because of this, are capable of delivering effective full-automatic fire at ranges up to 300 meters."
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